Meeting Details – Bring Your Friends!

Dear Scouts and Supporters,

Our six months of planning, community meetings, and welcome parties is complete, and we are now ready to open Scouts BSA Troop 248 for Girls on February 2. This posting gives you all of the details. And, you can bring along your friends to any of our upcoming meetings to learn about us and even join.

First Meeting Program

If you have not paid your dues yet, please do so here. Please come to the Church at 10 AM on Saturday, February 2. The girls will meet downstairs in the parish hall while the parents meet upstairs for their once-a-semester gathering. The girls will learn the following that day from the Scoutmasters during their meeting:

• How to tie Square Knots
• How to make the ends of a rope stay neat by “fusing”
• First Aid for cuts and scrapes
• Safety for pocket knives (bring a pocket knife if you have one)
• The role of a “Patrol Leader” in the Troop (elected by the girls)
• We will play a game with balloons.
• What you will need on campouts and how to pack it

Upstairs, the parents and guardians will have coffee and learn about the following:

• The Outdoor Program Assistant Scoutmasters (Neal and Collier) will discuss the weekend and summer camp activities for the year.
• The Meeting Program Assistant Scoutmasters (Bastian and Ross) will discuss the Saturday morning meeting plans and what will be covered.
• The Patrol Assistant Scoutmasters (B. Burkhardt and Snare) will discuss how they will advise the sub-groups called “patrols”, into which your daughter will be assigned.
• I will review the Youth Protection policies of the BSA and Episcopal Church and discuss how specifically we will operate in compliance with the requirements.
• The Membership Co-Chairs (Lallemant and Smith) will discuss parent/guardian responsibilities and will have a sign-up sheet for upcoming parent activities (carpooling, etc.).
• The Troop Committee Chair and Troop Treasurer will discuss the leadership and business operations of the Troop.

Opening Ceremony, Lunch and Uniforms

At Noon everyone will get together in the Church upstairs for an opening ceremony. We are a new Troop, so the Bishop will visit us to declare our beginning and witness the girls take the Scout Oath for the first time. Then we will go downstairs to have a potluck lunch. While lunch is going on, the BSA is going to open a temporary store at the Church for us so you can buy your uniform. You can learn more about the uniform here.

The parents/guardians will get an e-mail four days in advance about what food they might bring to share and with the exact price of the uniform (the Shirt, pants, belt, socks, and green “shoulder loops”). Remember, you will need to wear the complete uniform to all of our meetings and events (including your green pants).

I will share the things girls will learn in advance of each future Saturday morning meeting and details in advance of each weekend campout/hike. But for a preview, the Assistant Scoutmasters include the following things for the next couple of months (plus more):

• First aid for burns
• Election of Patrol Leaders
• Knots, including clove hitch, taught line hitch, and two half-hitches
• Ax use and care
• Fire Building
• Saw use and care
• Making Patrol and Deciding on Patrol “yells”

We will be able to practice our new Scoutcraft skills during our upcoming campouts on March 8-10 and April 26-28.

See you on February 2 at 10 AM!

Sincerely,
Craig Burkhardt
Scoutmaster